(MENAFN- AFP) French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was in the firing line Tuesday as leading labour organisations boycotted a summit aimed at creating 500,000 new jobs in unemployment-hit France and accused him of pandering to big business.
The pugnacious Valls, who marks 100 days as prime minister Tuesday, has also come under attack from prominent members of the ruling Socialist party for deferring an early retirement plan for those in physically tough jobs following a threat by Medef, the main employers union in France.
France's biggest union grouping, the CGT; Force Ouvriere, the leading union of civil servants; and the Solidaires federation; had already said they would shun Tuesday's round table talks, where the nuts and bolts of the job creation plan were due to be discussed.
The two-day summit, which will close Tuesday evening with an address by Valls, received another setback when the main union of school teachers, the FSU, announced it was "slamming the door" on the event.
"We cannot be part of a one-sided social dialogue," said FSU secretary general Bernadette Groison.
President Francois Hollande has billed the conference as an opportunity to finetune a plan under which French companies would see their tax burden reduced in return for them agreeing to start hiring new employees.
The plan has been interpreted in some quarters as a sign of the Socialist government recognising a need for economic reform and a shift to more business friendly policies.
But it has proved controversial with those on the left who see big business being handed tax breaks funded by cuts in public spending in areas such as health and social benefits with no obligation to do anything in return.
In an opening address on Monday, Hollande urged companies "to join in the process urgently to achieve concrete results".
Hollande's so-called Responsibility Pact, which offers businesses 40 billion euros ($54 billion) worth of cuts to taxes and social benefit charges in exchange for a pledge to create some 500,000 jobs by 2017, is in its nascent stages and still very vague.
It is not clear how the government will ensure that companies do not simply pocket the tax breaks.
- 'Fly in the ointment' -
The summit comes against a backdrop of record unemployment in the eurozone's second-largest economy, where 3.38 million people are out of work.
French unions were enraged by Valls's decision last week to defer the early retirement scheme after Medef complained it was too costly and threatened to boycott the labour summit.
Union officials accused Valls of having contempt for workers and not consulting them before making key decisions.
FO chief Jean-Claude Mailly said Monday there was a "fly in the ointment" in the dialogue and CGT head Thierry Lepaon said Medef had "obtained what it wanted even before the start of the conference".
The early retirement scheme for those in tough jobs involves a points system where those working nights, exposed to loud noise or heavy loads or performing repetitive tasks would gain extra training or early retirement as compensation.
The so-called "hardship accounts" were supposed to come into force in January 2015 but have now been delayed by a year, Valls announced last week.
The prime minister, while making the announcement, said "the ball is in the employees' court," further angering the unions, who viewed it as a capitulation to business.
Unions have dubbed the Responsibility Pact an "austerity pact" and accuse Valls of giving in to "blackmail" by big business.
Valls has attracted criticism from within the ruling party. Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, the first secretary of the Socialist party, said that Medef was only interested in one thing: "To take the money and run."
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